Pros

The 1998 VW Passat GLS, 5-speed standard, has been a very good vehicle in terms of its appearance, performance, gas mileage, and the truck with drop down back seats give some good capacity.

Cons

As what seems to be typical for German car, there are "electrical gremlins that seem to inhabit the car with some back door locks behaving oddly and one of the back seat windows also in this camp.

25

It Was "love" At First Sight At The Dealer, If One Can Love A Vehicle. —
It has been a great vehicle for long road trips. But, I am at a decision-point with the Passat having 287,000 miles on it and a newly cracked and leaking radiator with a front end package of $1,700 to 2,000 - the repair cost being more than book value I would think. And how much more "life" would be left in a vehicle that has had very regular and thorough car by very good independent garages? My household has three vehicles and the Passat is the extra more or less, but owned solely by me.

Pros

enormous trunk

Cons

terrible acceleration

35

Familiy Car —
Nice looking both outside and from the inside. The trunk is amazing, holds everything one family with a small kid could possibly toss in, but the 1.6 petrol engine is quite unsuitable for anything but barely moving from point A to point B, so to say.

Pros

its a very fast car , its good on snow , and holds alot of cargo space

Cons

it needs a tune up

20

Its Been A Great Experience Having It —
it was a great car to have around everyone in the neighborhood use to give me thumbs up , it was a very cool car and it has great exhaust sound . Ilove it only reason why im selling it is because i bought a new one

Pros

fast cheap car

Cons

expensive parts

35

Great Runner —
fast 150 bhp turbo engine
good quality build
great leather interior
nice overall looking car
nice thrill when you race it,people do not expect much from a passat but not all are diesel
avoid this sport trim passat because parts cost double the price then usual passat specially suspension and engine

Pros

Cons

well actually there's no real reason to avoid buying this car.The only thing that can make you think is it's a really big car(4.67 meters)so if you want something smaller go and die.

45

I Love Passat!!! —
It has a 150 hp 1.8 turbo engine.yeah i love my car.It can accelerate to 100 km less than 8.5 seconds.It's a veryy gun tu drive.Thank you.IT is a very high quality carMy daddy oened it for 2 years (2003-2005) even it was already 5 y.o. when we bought it we didn't go to service unless it was time to periodic maintence.It's really a masterpiece-both interior and exterior.-Ergonomy is excellent everything is at a place where they should be.It has relatively low fuel consumption.But of course it has a higher cost of ownership than a 1.4 liter car.But it has nearly no cost of maintence.I guess this car won't need a high cost operation even it's 10 years old.

Pros

Build quality and reliability

Cons

Major services and engine repairs are expensive

55

It's Worth It. —
A cheap car that drives like a very expensive one. Reasonable performance, suprising economy and superb comfort. No rust or blemishes, paint quality is very very good. You would not believe this a 100k miles car. My best Ebay purchase ever.

Pros

efficent, comfortable and fast

Cons

Old interior

65

Awesome Bang-for-your-buck —
Accelration is awesome, braking is also awesome, soft suspension so cornering is not as fast as it could go, but still quick enough to beat my mates in corollas and pulsars.
Slight dent, but I want to get that out.
As a student, it is cheap as to run. Make it 2 weeks on 50L of 98 unleaded.
This car is so much fun, quick from 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Never floored it in 4th, but hoping to go to a racetrack and try it out there.

Pros

Beautiful and powerful car. Nice interior lights.

Cons

It goes a lot to the mechanic. Turbo and transmission are problematic

25

Nice Car When New But Problematic With 3-4 Years Of Use. —
Performance - nice acceleration and power (good turbo)
Build Quality - turbo and transmission problems
Appearance - innovative exterior and very nice interior. The purple and red lights look good.
Cost of Ownership - regular maintenance very expensive. It is very efficient with the gas consumption.

Pros

Everything

Cons

Nothing

105

The Best Of The Best —
BEAUTIFUL! One of the best cars I have ever been in. The leather was beautiful. The dash, shifter, the engine, the trunk space. I mean, what is there not to like about it? The car is the Passat of the century. Better than today's, and yesteryear's VW PASSATS. I highly recommend it.

Reviews From Other Years

Made For America With German Engineering.By Pal_venkat

I have recently bought my VW Passat 1.8 TSI SE with Nav. Initially went to buy VW Golf then ended up with the Passat because of the size. I love the interior not being too busy. Very simple and decent...
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Best Diesel Car/sedan For Your Money. Period.By 5DDFL

Everything about it is fantastic! Owning this has sold me on the TDI brand for life. Having the Diesel engine is a bit more expensive so I wouldn't suggest buying a new one unless you plan on drivin...
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2014 PassatBy jennyfromPNW

Long time VW owner and leasing the Passat when I really wanted to lease a Golf. Golf was not available with the features I wanted (standard transmission, 4 door, etc.) so settled with the Passat inste...
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2.5 Passat S Is A Great ValueBy jtns

i traded a 2011 mb glk for this cpo 2013 passat s. i was looking for a german driving experience at lower cost and happily found it. i test drove 2.5 and 1.8t passats and jettas. the 1.8t jetta was...
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The Perfect Balance Between Luxury, Performance And EconomyBy PassatTDi

This is a smooth, quiet, comfortable and powerful car that achieves amazing fuel mileage. VW diesels have a quasi cult following and amazing resale values even up to and beyond 200,000 miles. The to...
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Solid Family CarBy ElephantMovers

I loved the style and handling, I was worried about the breaking system and reports about the car being slow to stop, but have had no problems so far. The back seat area is great for our kids. The hea...
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Forever Runner!By Jasmina Ian

I like the fact that the car is newer with fewer miles on it. Yes Its a 2012 with 62,000 miles on it. It drives really smooth. I paid 9,500.00 for it which was not bad for this car. I had it inspected...
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Love ItBy JS4357

One of the best vehicles I've driven. The antenna system seems to act up during cold weather as the receiver has to warm up before the signal goes to 100% during warm up it only receives at about 65% ...
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3d Passat And No Wonder!By nedm

This 2010 is truly the last of the good performance Passats. VW blew it with the underpowered 2012+. It is simply a blast to drive. The 2.0L turbo w/ 200 hp is amazingly responsive and FAST! No wonder...
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